Deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's more than double in a decade: ABS (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

March 18, 2009

Embargoed: 11.30 am (AEDT)

13/2009

Deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's more than double in a decade: ABS

The 46, 626 Australians who died of cardiovascular disease made up around one third (34%) of all deathsin 2007but heart attacks have dropped from 22%of all deaths in 1998 to 16% in 2007, while deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's have more than doubled from 2.6% to 5.3% of all deaths, according to statistics released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) .

Over the same time, deaths from cancerhave increased by 13% but still represent nearly one third (29%) of all deaths.

Of the 40,287 deaths from cancer in 2007, lung cancer was the most prevalent cause of death with 7,623 Australians dying of the disease in 2007; prostate cancer in men caused 2,938 deaths, while breast cancer in women caused 2,680.

The top 3 leading causes of death have remained unchanged for the last 10 years - heart disease (1), stroke (2) and lung cancer (3). In this same period, deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer's have gone from the seventh leadingcause of death to the fourth

More details are available in Causes of Death, Australia (cat. no. 3303.0) which is available for free download from the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au>

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